Middle of JULY????!!!!

It's been two months since I've posted -- where does the time go???

We've been keeping busy around here. Friday night the Sheriff's Office participated in Relay for Life (an American Cancer Society fundraising event) and I was co-captain and I tried really hard to stay all night, but I pooped out at about 3 a.m. Tony and the kids came for a while at the beginning but headed home around 10. Our county raised over $150,000 this year, which was above our goal, so we were excited. This is the first year the Sheriff's Office had a team and we had a great time while drawing attention (and money) to a great cause.

The kids are doing great! Maja will be four soon and she's quite excited for her party. She wants a purple cake and monkey balloons. :-) She's fairly easy to please!

I don't have any terribly exciting milestones to post about -- we've been busy with daily stuff and the kids are busy growing. Mali is very articulate these days and quite perceptive of others' moods. She can recognize all of her letters and is starting to spell things everywhere we go!

Daniel has been home almost a year now and continues to adjust. His English is excellent and he's making progress in all areas of life. He keeps us on our toes!

Alyssa has been showing her new dog this year and has a few blue ribbons so far. There are a few AKC shows nearby this fall and the three Aussies will go, with hopes of a few new titles and a lot of fun in the process! One of these days, I need to get a picture of the doggies posted up here!

Be on the lookout for pictures next time....

IS MAY HALFWAY OVER ALREADY???

Wow! How time flies! Mali celebrated her 4th birthday at the end of April. We had a good old-fashioned "weenie roast" at Grandma Dolly's house. Mali learned to climb a tree, Maja ran up and down the bed of the wheat truck for what must have amounted to miles, and Daniel climbed on the tractors. It was a very fun day!

Mali had lots of friends and family at her party. Grandma and Grandpa (Donna & Gene) were there, NaiNai (Grandma Dolly), Grandpa B (Brent), Ward, Jon, our friends Shelley, Tim and Gabe. The kids played all day and sure took good naps later on! Grandpa B is a weenie roast expert - doing them over a real wood fire on a good farm-seasoned pitchfork.

The 16th of May was Maja's 2 year "Gotcha Day" anniversary. Two years?? In 2006 we were in Beijing on Mother's Day and received Maja two days later. What a gift! Yesterday we were at Grandma Dolly's house to catch up with Travis & Melissa and their son Nicholas. Nicholas is 2 1/2 now and he and Daniel chummed around the farm together. Grandpa B gave rides on the old John Deere -- suprisingly Maja was the star of the tractor (Mali wanted nothing to do with it). Daniel thought the tractor was cool, but Maja was driving!!! She made a couple of turns all on her own. She'll be driving the grain cart next summer if Grandpa B has anything to do with it!

Daniel continues to be Mr. Social, making friends everywhere we go. At cousin Jon's graduation party last weekend, Daniel was befriending everyone, especially the girls! Just what will his teenage years be like if he's already such a flirt??

Aunt Helen from Colorado got to come for a short visit a few weeks ago. It was good to see her and catch up a little.

We hope all of you are well!

(P.S. All of these pictures will enlarge if you click on them)